“He was like a comet, streaking along the sky,” said a proud Bob Baffert in 2024 as his Triple Crown-winning horse, Justify, awaited being inducted into the horse racing Hall of Fame. With these words, the celebrity trainers made it clear that the thoroughbred held a special place in his heart. And now, just a year later, a colt sired by Justify stands in his way of winning the Belmont Stakes.

The third jewel of the Triple Crown is just around the corner. With a $2 million prize pool, the 2025 Belmont Stakes looks to wrap up the most exciting five weeks of the horse racing season in style. While horses like Sovereignty and Baeza will undoubtedly have a lot of eyes on them, it seems like a new name could be en route to foiling their plans.

A post on X by Daily Racing Form‘s David Grening from June 1 shares that Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has entered Crudo as his flagbearer in the Belmont Stakes. “Crudo, the Sir Barton winner, is now in the Belmont Stakes. Looks like a field of 8 now,” Grening notes in his social media post, underscoring that the competition in Saratoga just got tougher.

Moreover, Journalism, this year’s Preakness Stakes winner, has also been confirmed to run at the Belmont after days of deliberation. Grening broke the news via another X post just minutes ago before dropping the info on Crudo. Journalism had already been making himself comfortable in Saratoga for some time, making friends with fellow stable dwellers, without fully knowing his fate. However, it looks like the green signal has finally come through.

With four Belmont Stakes victories under his belt, Pletcher knows perfectly well that it requires a special kind of racing horse to win the final leg of the Triple Crown. And who better to supply the winning DNA than Justify? Crudo comes off a first-place finish in the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico on May 17. Naturally, with the races starting to show their mark on the thoroughbred, Todd Pletcher believes a Belmont Stakes could be well on the table.

Pletcher has previously registered wins at the Belmont Stakes with Rags to Riches, Palace Malice, Tapwrit, and Mo Donegal. And his hopes of winning his fifth race at the event were heightened further after Crudo clocked an impressive 48.86 seconds on Sunday during a brisk run over a half mile at the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga. “I thought it was an excellent move. He worked really well, galloped out nicely. I was very pleased with him. He’s had a good couple weeks since he ran,” Pletcher said in a statement.

However, he still went on to mention that the opponents are tough, and Justify’s son will need to work extra hard to subdue the competition come June 7. And he ain’t wrong!

The Belmont Stakes won’t spare any quarter for Pletcher and Crudo

Truth be told, you could hardly manage to find a more stacked lineup of horses than the names that have already entered this year’s Belmont Stakes. With 7-2 odds, Baeza, this year’s third-place Kentucky Derby finisher, will run his heart out at Saratoga in hopes of clinching his first Triple Crown race victory. Moreover, the 2025 UAE Derby runner-up, Heart of Honor, is also likely to push his opponents to their limits.

While jockey Saffie Osborne noted that taking on American racers and having to get used to the continent’s climate isn’t an easy feat, she also sounded optimistic as she revealed that Heart of Honor is slowly adjusting to the US. After a disappointing display at the Preakness Stakes, you can bet that the colt will come for it all in Saratoga next Saturday. The signs were pretty good when the colt stretched his legs in Saratoga on Sunday. “He didn’t break any land-speed records, but that was never our intention. He looked to move well,” said a pleased Saffie on Heart of Honor’s training session.

Pletcher’s second horse, Uncaged, could also be the one to make the Belmont Stakes a sorrowful affair for Crudo. Paired with the 2024 Belmont Stakes winner Luis Saez, the duo could be the underdog who pulls off an upset victory this weekend. But all eyes are on the most exciting of the rivalries!

After missing out on the Preakness Stakes, the Kentucky Derby winner, Sovereignty, will finally be back in the starting lineup for the final race of the Triple Crown. At Saratoga, the horse and jockey Junior Alvarado will once again cross paths with Journalism (this year’s second-place Derby finisher and Preakness winner). However, Sovereignty’s trainer, Bill Mott is quite happy with what he has been seeing from the colt.

Who is your pick to win the prestigious race? Tell us in a comment!